Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: San-Jose-Sharks

The topics from Elliotte Friedman and Damien Cox of Sportsnet include the Joe Thornton situation in San Jose, the GM meetings, the KHL saying they will not participate in the World Cup and the last topic was college free agents.

... in a phone interview with Wilson later Friday, the general manager insisted there was "zero chance" that he would be trading Thornton. The Sharks need him, Wilson said, to be part of the veteran base as they restock their roster with draft choices in need of development. Wilson added that if Thornton had heard the Thursday remarks in total context during the fan Q-and-A, he would not have perceived them in such a negative way.

For the record, if Thornton has been bothered on the ice by his captaincy diss, that's hard to see. He has 57 points in 64 games. That does not match his peak years. Yet as of Friday, he was still among the league's top six assist men and top 25 scorers.

Thornton has not slacked on defense, either. And by observation, his Sharks teammates do not seem to have lost any respect for him. There might even be empathy for his situation. In a dressing room popularity election between Thornton and Wilson, it's a sure bet Wilson would finish second. The sharpest portion of Thornton's verbal blast Friday was the accusation of Wilson "lying." The next sharpest, though, was the pointed reference Thornton made to not taking "a sabbatical" and being "here every day working hard." There's a segment of the Sharks' roster that believes Wilson misses too many road games and is not in the office at home as much as other general managers. The league obviously doesn't keep stats on that stuff. But even if the facts don't 100 percent match the accusation, it doesn't matter. If enough players believe they do, perception is reality.

Wilson, when asked about that perception, said that when he's missed road games this season, it's because of time he's spent analyzing prospects for an upcoming entry draft that will be very crucial for the Sharks. Also, the team's minor league AHL franchise is moving from Massachusetts to SAP Center next season, which has taken many planning hours.

Long-simmering issues between Sharks general manager Doug Wilson and veteran center Joe Thornton boiled to the surface Friday when Thornton had a direct response to Wilson's latest explanation of why the 'C' was removed from his jersey.

"I think Doug just needs to shut his mouth," Thornton said after his team's morning practice. "I think that's the bottom line."

Thornton added: "All I've got to say is I've been here every day working hard. I haven't taken a sabbatical. He just needs to stop lying, shut his mouth."

In a Thursday night meeting with about 350 season-ticket holders, Wilson was asked again about the decision to strip Thornton of the captaincy. The Sharks have gone with four alternate captains this season and Thornton has that leadership role instead.

One thing he made clear: February was a disaster with eight consecutive home losses and a 3-8-2 overall record.

“I would much rather be sitting here without having gone through February. The one game that pissed me off — and it epitomized our team — was the Detroit game. Detroit has a young team that’s transitioning like we are….. We dominate for the first period and then we went 30 minutes with one shot. That to me was kind of like hitting rock bottom.”

Q: Patrick Marleau is my favorite Shark and I think it’s wrong the way he’s being blamed when things aren’t going well.

First, Wilson rattled off Marleau’s career accomplishments and noted “he deserves a level of respect for that.”

Then he continued:

“I also understand though when you earn big contracts and you’ve got a high profile, you’ve got to take the bullet and Patty would be the first to say he’s never been minus-15 before and that’s a struggle. You own that, admit that. But Patty Marleau, when we talked this summer, wants to be part of it. This transition hopefully will be a quick transition....

“He cares. When you set expectations for a player like that, you see the lofty numbers that he’s had, with that comes criticism. You’ve got to get thick skin, you’ve got to deal with it. And all you can really do is go on the ice and play. I expect him to play his ass off the last 15 games.”

Conventional wisdom says the trades you don't make often are the ones that work out best. If the Sharks do make the playoffs this season, they may point to goaltender Antti Niemi as the latest example of that.

Niemi's name was circulating as one of several pending unrestricted free agents that Sharks general manager Doug Wilson was open to trading before the March 2 deadline. For whatever reason — maybe the return would not have been high enough, maybe Niemi was taken off the market — that did not happen.

Now, after his 39-save performance in San Jose's 2-1 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Niemi acknowledged Tuesday that there may have been a minor change in his mindset once the deadline passed.

"It's hard to try not to think about it," said Niemi, who stopped seven of eight Pittsburgh shots in the shootout as well. "You still hear, especially from you guys (media), you hear the rumors. I don't think I thought about it too much, but of course it's gone now, so there's nothing to think about anymore."

The Sharks (32-26-8, 72 points) remain four points behind Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division and an automatic playoff berth, and six behind the second-place Canucks. The Kings are in fourth with 75 points, and each of those division rivals has a game in hand on San Jose, which fell to just 15-15-5 at home.

It’s not looking good.

“It’s painful because it’s a team we’re chasing in the standings,” Wingels said. “These opportunities, there’s not too many more of these. They slip away.”

Joe Pavelski said: “It was our biggest game to date. We got the start we want and we get the lead, and we give it away slowly. We can be better than that.”